Saturday, 28 December 2013

Thursday, 26 December 2013

Hi
Thanks for the comments
The embroidery on my piece is done using a thick thread - often a gutterman 12wt thread, but I also use Wonderfil spagetti or even any thick thread that i have bought in a charity shop.
It is just free machine "embroidery" or do you in the States call it free motion quilting - to me they are the same.

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Mine is finished!
When Ita annouced the challenge I thought "How awful" I never work in grey! So I thought about it carefully and thought of Iceland. we had a fabulous week there in May - amazing country but the weather was terrible - lots of rain and grey cloud.
I am always in looking at the ethnic textiles and enjoyed doing a bit of research in the museum in Reykjavik
Here are some of the photos I took whilst in iceland

So here is the finished quilt!
I can't remember if you were were supposed to use only one other colour, but I just had a use a few!
Thanks Ita for pushing me out of my comfort zone and forcing me to make a quilt in colours I don't usually use.
I just love it! and want to make some more using the same idea, but this time using my photos from other parts of the world.

Monday, 23 December 2013

When Ita announced her color scheme for the second assignment I immediately had an idea that fit nicely into what I am working on for my exhibition in October 2014, "Inspiration Bauhaus". However, it does not fit into the 40 by 80 cms scheme.
Nevertheless, I worked it all out and have now started quilting it. And although it doesn't fit in, it is the only thing I can show right now, and will. Here are a few stages of development:

A plan to give me an indication of how things will be arranged.

Free-cut squares

the squares were surrounded by 1/2-inch-wide lines and another free-cut round - note the reflector fabric!

all sewn together

had a helper putting the sandwich together

And now it is in the process of being quilted.
But I have a sufficient amount of leftovers, which have already triggered a few more ideas for a quilt abiding by the rules, and in the right size. It won't be finished in time, but I promise to try to get it done soon.

Saturday, 21 December 2013

So I was the last one to finish my quilt assignment #1, and now I am proud to be the first to finish #2.

I have been using commercial striped fabrics for some time as the fine lines in my piecing, and have several boxes worth. For this quilt I used the stripes in very skinny lines, as usual, but instead of using them as spacers between larger pieces of fabric, I decided to just have the skinny lines by themselves.

Here's a view in progress showing how thin the lines are -- the grid lines on the design wall are one inch apart.

International Threads

is a group of eight artists from five countries. We have agreed to use member's suggestions as common inspiration for our work three times a year. And we are looking forward to our first public appearances in Prague in April 2015, and France, 2016.